Overture

Overture is one of the restaurants owned by well-known South African chef, Bertus Basson. Overture is situated on the picturesque Hidden Valley Wine Estate in Stellenbosch; the most gorgeous setting. Bertus Basson prides himself on a love for typically local South African cuisine. I was fortunate enough to visit Overture during one of my recent trips to Cape Town.

My mom, my benedict and myself arrived at Overture on overcast Saturday afternoon to enjoy a three course lunch tasting menu. We started with some wine, Hidden Valley’s very own Pinotage, an easy drinking enjoyable red wine at that. Almost immediately after, we were served with our appetisers. The first being, one of Bertus Basson’s specialities, “chip and dip”. This was an assortment of homemade vegetable and potato crisps served with a variety of dipping sauces. Loved this crunchy and very tasty appetiser. The second appetiser was ostrich ham served with pickled onions, home cured mustard and pumpkin. For starters, I opted for the oxtail dish. This was served with creamed highland red wheat, foraged herbs and button mushrooms; a truly uniquely served oxtail dish. I selected the pork fillet and crispy trotters as my main meal. This was served with barbeque celeriac, butternut, gem squash, chervil and a dijonnaise sauce. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the trotters (pig feet), I did enjoy the pork fillet; it was beautifully cooked. The butternut too, was delicious; sweet, smooth and tasty. This main meal was a very interesting and unique dish. For dessert, I had the chocolate cremeux with salted caramel, orange, seaweed and cardamom. I also tasted a little of the vanilla soufflé, which was served with roasted sesame seed ice cream as well as the Dalewood cheese dessert served with fresh pear, onion marmalade, roast apple and seed loaf. The winning dessert was definitely the chocolate cremeux. The bitter dark chocolate was so well balanced by the salted caramel and sweet white chocolate. Really loved this dessert.

Lunch at Overture was a lovely experience. The scenery is beautiful beyond words and the restaurant is chic and very stylish, boasting modern architectural features and finishes. The service at Overture was impeccable and totally without flaw. Our party was very well taken care of and made to feel rather special. I really enjoyed my tasting experience at Overture and look forward to returning again soon to try out another one of Bertus Basson’s tasting menus.